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' |image= |series= |production=40271-117 |producer(s)= |story=Karl Geurs (as Karl Guers) Ralph Sanchez Robert Sabaroff |script=Robert Sabaroff |director=Corey Allen |imdbref=tt0708730 |guests=Walter Gotell as Kurt Mandl, Elizabeth Lindsey as Luisa Kim, Gerard Prendergast as'Bjorn Bensen', Mario Roccuzzo as Arthur Malencon, Carolyne Barry as Female Engineer |previous_production=11001001 |next_production=When the Bough Breaks |episode=TNG A18 |airdate=20 February 1988 |previous_release=When the Bough Breaks |next_release=Coming of Age |story_date(s)=Stardates 41463.9-41464.6 |previous_story=11001001 |next_story=When the Bough Breaks }} =Summary= The Enterprise arrives at the terraforming colony on Velara III, as the project is behind schedule. The director, Kurt Mandl, insists they are on time but Captain Picard orders an away team to the surface, after Counselor Troi senses that Mandl is hiding something. After they arrive, one of Mandl's team is killed by a malfunctioning laser drill. During Lt. Commander Data's inspection of the tool, it begins to fire at him, but his quick android reflexes allow him to dodge the shot and render the drill harmless. He finds the programming of the laser was rewritten to fire upon the staff. Nearby, a crystal is discovered giving off irregular light and radiation patterns. The crystal is brought aboard the Enterprise to study and Picard orders a halt to the terraforming. Dr. Crusher and Data discover the crystal may be alive. When the crystal attempts to interact with the Enterprise's computers, it is placed into a containment force field. The crystal begins to grow and gains access to the computer's translation program and attempts to communicate with the crew, treating the humans as an enemy, derisively calling them "ugly bags of mostly water". Picard discovers that Mandl and his team previously encountered the crystals; at the time, they had considered the possibility that the crystals were alive, but Mandl insisted on continuing to terraform. The terraformers used a drilling process responsible for removing the saline water layer from the water table of Velara III. This saline layer acted as a conductor, allowing many separate crystals to function as one life form. In a defensive response to the drilling, the crystal life form rewrote the laser's software and attacked the terraformers. Data hypothesizes that a single crystal is not intelligent, but when linked to other crystals, their intelligence is formidable. As the crystalline life form accesses higher-level functions of the Enterprise's computer, Picard and the crew try to transport it to the surface but the crystal blocks all attempts to transport it off the ship. Data and Lt. La Forge discover the presence of cadmium in the crystal and suspect it has photoelectric properties. They disable the lights in the medical lab and the crystal immediately begs for life. Picard peacefully negotiates to return the crystal life form to the surface of the planet where Starfleet will institute a quarantine, leaving the life form to live in peace. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # The Pleiades Cluster is only 415 light-years from Earth. Yet, during a log entry, Picard claims that the Enterprise is conducting a mapping mission in this region. At warp 9, the Enterprise could start at Earth and arrive at the Pleiades Cluster in about three months Why has it taken so long for the Federation to map this cluster? Either a ship could not be spared before now, long range scans had been considered sufficent until now, or someone decided the maps of the sector needed updating due to the terraforming mission. # You have to hand it to Data. This android is fast! Shortly alter asking La Forge to return power to the laser drill in the pumping station on the surface of the planet, Data realizes the drill has focused on him. The scene shows the drill firing and Data dodging the beam. This is a laser. It works with light. Light travels at about 186,000 miles per second. (Faster if you figure it in kilometers. . .just joking.)He probably spotted the pre fire sequence. # When Data and La Forge first discover the crystal life form, it sits in a dark drilling tube. Yet later in the show we discover that the crystal needs light to live. Perhaps the entity can store energy in an emergency, and enter a form of hibernation if the available light drops below a certain amount. Changed Premises # Why does this crystal life form surprise the crew of the Enterprise? Discounting the encounters of unusual life forms by previous crews of the Enterprise, Picard's crew has already met Q, a "lonely" energy cloud, a transdimensional "god," and a giant crystal entity - all remarkable in their own right. None of these were found living under a layer of sand! Equipment oddities # Exactly what does the person on the other end of the conversation see and hear when Picard and crew put their communication on hold? At the beginning oi the episode, Picard speaks with Mandl. At one point Troi tells Picard that something is wrong. Picard hits a button and the computer says, “Channel closed." Yet the viewscreen continues to show Mandl. Presumably he's staring at some torm of blank screen (perhaps with the Federation symbol and a caption that says, "We apologize for putting you on hold, but we need to talk about you and we didn't want you to overhear our conversation"). After a few moments, Mandl impatiently speaks up, and the bridge hears what he is saying. Evidently the channel is only closed going from Picard to Mandl. Doesn't this seem a bit rude? Mandl may have over-ridden the transmission block initiated by him being put on hold. Continuity and Production Problems # Throughout this entire episode, the creators used the same base shot for every scene featuring a wide angle of the viewscreen with Data and La Forge in the foreground at their posts. When originally filmed, the inside area of the viewscreen no doubt contained a “blue screen." After filming, the creators replaced the blue portions of the film with the footage they desired. They used this particular shot several times during Picard's conversation with head terraformer Mandi at the beginning of the episode and at least twice more in conversation with the crystal life form. Watch Data. He keeps punching the same buttons over and over and over.... He could be repeating a regular scan. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation